Torment
by RenatusPhoenix
Summary: Danny wakes up in a place he definitely doesn't want to be. Mysteriously, he's also in ghost form, when he doesn't remember transforming. Before he can escape, something appears, and little does he know what kind of torment that simple thing would bring.
1. Awakening

**Author's note:  
><strong>Hello! Artemis here, or Arty for short. I just wanted to say that I'm finally glad I have something to post up here, and that it's not the last you'll see from me. Nope, I'll keep coming back. Anyway, this is my first story, _Torment_. It's not exactly something I started first, but it's something that I can work on faster than my 'main' story.

I feel bad for Danny. I've read so many stories that he gets hurt in some way.  
>I'm no exception.<br>So be warned, though not obvious in this chapter, the later ones will be a bit harsh. Even though I'm not the greatest writer, I just wanted to put that out there right now.

Anyway, I've spoken enough, it's time to let the story begin!

**_End author's note._**

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><p>I blinked open my eyes, fluttering out of the dazed blur of sleep as I struggled to sit up. At first it didn't register in my groggy mind that I <em>couldn't <em>move, that my arms were strapped to my sides and my back was pressed against cold, sterile steel. Before my brain kicked in to tell me this, I struggled for a few moments, primal fear causing me to growl in frustration at the inability to even roll over.

Finally the gears in my head started to churn, turning my unfocused gaze to the faintly glowing and padlocked cuffs that were spaced evenly along my wrist, forearm and bicep.

_What's going on?_ I wondered stupidly, shaking my white bangs from my eyes in an attempt to clear my head- wait, _white? _I blinked again, staring confusedly at the peeking tips of my hair. I hadn't realized I was in ghost form… That would explain the coldness of the surface I was lying on. As the groggy feeling left my brain, the shock from realizing my form jolting it into motion, I finally started taking notice of my surroundings.

Scattered toasters, blenders, grills, microwaves, drills, and tools of all kinds were littered everywhere, on the panels, the tables and shelves that lined the walls. Even spilling out of an open closet.

Beeping and faint flashing lights caught my attention next, dragging my glowing green eyes from the clutter to a more organized section of the mess. Inventions, devices, lights, batteries, test tubes and, I noticed with a shudder, tools purely meant for biological experiments.

Where was I? It was pretty obvious by now. I was in my parents lab. Renewed panic at that realization surged through me as I threw my chest forward, trying to break the bonds that trapped my arms, knowing from experience that the cuffs were phase proof. Only my pure strength could help me, and luckily in ghost form, I was a lot stronger than any human.

For about ten minutes I threw myself against the metal, swearing under my breath every time I felt the edges slice and dig into my skin, causing green ectoplasmic blood to ooze up from the shallow wounds. I ignored the pain though, I knew that if I didn't get out, and out _now. _I would be in a whole new level of hell.

With a satisfied grin, I heard and saw the _snick_ of cracks appearing in the top two bindings. _Only a few more minutes. _I thought to myself while continuing the painful, but slowly succeeding tactic. Once I could get my hands free, then I could blast off the cuffs holding my ankles. And that's what I was working on, just getting my arms free.

If I could do that, I could use my ectobeam or my ice powers to get away. I just hoped I was lucky enough to get out before my parents returned from wherever they were. I was also lucky that my dad forgot to turn on the ghost shield that I could see plain in view. Sometimes, I was glad my parents were clueless.

It didn't even occur to me how odd it was my parents left me alone. In the lab. Without any kind of drug to keep me asleep.

I heard a sound to my right, and before my brain registered what it was, my eyes had instinctively shot to the side, the emerald glow flashing in the already bright room. From the shadows of the staircase leading upstairs into the house, a slow, crackling ball of what appeared to be blue, gooey lightening wobbled into existence.

For a moment I thought I saw a flash of red goggles reflected in the glow. But the energy kept my attention, watching with apprehension as it drifted lazily through the air towards me, dipping up and down in the air like it had all the time in the world. My thoughts of escape left me as fearful curiosity brought my movements to a standstill.

_Up and down, up and down _it dipped and swirled, little sparks of energy jumping off it, making it appear excited, or happy at its little midair dance as it twirled towards me. I watched it, fascinated despite my situation until it was about two feet away. There, it paused spinning lazily in the air as it seemed to contemplate its next action.

I felt some kind of powerful energy brush my senses, and suddenly, I didn't want it anywhere near me. Frantically I started up my struggles again, keeping my neon eyes glued to the small mass, the blob moving towards me once again.

"Oh hell no." I muttered under my breath, the first words I had spoken since waking up in this stranger predicament. I managed to break two of the cuffs confining my right arm, thankful that the orb of crackling energy was so slow.

_Just my wrist now. _I let myself know, letting my eyes flick down once to look at the condition of the cuff. A few more cracks and it would be history. On the edge of my hearing and through my slight panic, I thought I heard worried mumblings and voices from the direction of the stairwell. I ignored it for now though, more focused on getting free and blasting whatever the hell that thing was away.

I brought my eyes away from the cuff, jerking my shoulder and arm continuously despite the ache and pain that fluttered up and down my skin. To my horror, the orb was less than a foot away, hovering silently save for the small crackling sparks that twitched around its surface. Even as I watched, my eyes widening, the colour of the thing started to change to red. Going from the bright, electric blue, to purple to a sickening bloody crimson. It looked like an electric heart now, bloody and dripping sparks of power.

I shuddered and wrenched my arm again.

Suddenly, the glob shot forward, settling about four inches above my sternum. I froze, not daring to move now that the blood red sphere was so close to touching me. I did _not _want that thing to touch me, but now, I really couldn't do anything. Beads of cold sweat peppered my forehead, not even letting my muscles twitch for fear the orb would react.

If I had known how bad it was going to be right then, I probably would've been a lot more terrified.

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><p>(c) Story - Me<br>(c) Danny Phantom - Butch Hartman


	2. Shocking realizations

**AN:**Chapter two is up. And can I say how incredibly stunned I was that Chapter one got 7 reviews (Positive ones no less) in less than a day? Mein gott. I'd like to thank all you reviewers.~

Chapter three might not be up for a little while, this was prewritten, and I just wanted to wait a bit before spamming with the second chapter.

Minor warning for... well, I don't know what exactly to classify it as. o-o;

**End AN.**

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><p>I licked my lips lightly, fear twisting my stomach into knots. I knew for a fact this was something my parents had developed, from the mutterings I had heard earlier to the memory of my mom's bragging the other night about a new device. But despite my prying, she hadn't divulged any information about it, saying that it was something that would finally work on 'Phantom'. In other words, <em>me.<em>

Then the orb started moving again, but in a direction I had hoped it wouldn't. It started to sink like a stone towards my chest. With a mangled yelp, I pressed myself against the steel, jerking my arms frantically against the cuffs to try and move out of the way before it touched me.

_two inches, one inch. _I snarled in panic and frustration. Whatever this thing was, it was something I did not want to be the test subject for. I considered changing back to my human form; but I realized after a second of thought, that it was too late for that. The orb was too close, it would hit me anyway and would only hurt a thousand times worse if it hit my vulnerable human self.

I finally broke the last bond on my right arm, and even before I jerked my hand up, I was gathering ecto energy in my palm, feeling the icy cold rush over my fingers. But before I could release it towards the blood red globe; it reached my chest, sinking into my skin like a burning hot ball of lead.

My mind and body exploded into shrieking pain. It wasn't just my nerves, it was every god damn fiber of my being that this thing attacked. I screamed bloody murder, using my now free hand to claw at the burn that marked the entrance of the offending substance.

In an offhand way, as I convulsed violently against the agony, I realized my parents had come out of hiding, broad grins plastered on their faces as they watched my torment. I screamed again, my voice cracking at the raw power behind the sound. It was bordering on a Ghostly Wail for how much pain I was in.

The shredding fire blasted from my chest down to my feet and up to my head, bouncing around my insides. Red rimmed the edges of my vision, tears of pain were shed unconsciously, streaming down my cheeks.

I continued to claw at my chest, unnoticing of the green, bloody trails my hand left. I only wanted this thing out and _gone._It hurt so much.

I felt like someone had ripped open my torso and poured an entire volcanoes worth of lava into my insides, sloppily letting it splash everything else. I contorted painfully, twisting every way I could, trying desperately to escape it. But I couldn't, I was trapped.

It lasted forever, longer and longer than I could have ever possibly imagined. I couldn't even scream anymore by the time it started to fade. My breathing was shallow and ragged, harsh to even my own ringing ears. All I could see were stars, and the vague images of my parents behind that small galaxy that flashed in my eyes.

I knew I should turn back into my human form, I really knew. And even as my mom advanced to stand at my side beside the table, I reached into my pain filled mind for that warm, heavy blanket of life, hoping to slip back into the natural, comfortable warmth and leave the aching body of my ghost form. I knew the pain would follow me, but hopefully some of it would heal in the process.

I didn't care if they saw me now, I knew that if I didn't change, they would just hurt me more, unknowing to my situation, and since they believed ghosts were evil and could not feel; my pleas of pain and begging would fall on deaf ears, just as my screams had.

I saw that glowing ember-like spark that was buried in my subconscious, pulsating to the rhythm of a heartbeat that lurked in its depths. It radiated in my mind, just getting near it helped melt a tiny fraction of the agony away. My breathing slowed, as if I were going to sleep as the white orb around my waist formed, about to take the shape of tingling, shining rings.

They never appeared.

Another scream blasted my eardrums, barely noting that it was my own voice that was bouncing around the large lab. I felt and saw through bleary eyes some kind of tazer-like device being placed on a table next to me.

"Oh no you don't, Ghost." I heard my mom chuckle once my scream's echoes had died, obviously she didn't think my vocalization was a 'real' scream, so she just jumped right to the point, not even giving me a chance to catch my breath.

"Every time our trackers and radars pick up that spike of energy you were just about to release, you vanish off the face of the earth." She explained with a smug smile. My dad spoke up next, his broad grin stretching from ear to ear in excitement.

"And we figured out the perfect device to stop that spike from happening!" he said brightly, tapping a finger on the device my mom had just set down. "It targets ghosts like you with a shock directly to your ectoplasmic core. You won't be able to do that disappearing act for another four hours!" he chuckled, walking away to fetch something out of my line of sight.

My heart plummeted, terror and dread sparking deep inside me and crawling up to the surface in the form of shivers and trembling. "No, no no no no no." I hissed weakly, shaking my head violently. I couldn't even move my free arm for how badly that glowing orb had gotten me, and the recent shock.

I tried though, oh how I tried. I weakly lifted it up a few inches and tried to grab my other arms remaining cuff. "No, no no. You don't… You don't know what you're doing!" I retorted, watching with ever growing panic as my mom's smile grew, as if laughing at a joke I didn't get.

"You're the most enigmatic case I've ever seen." She mused, and without any effort, she managed to grab my free arm from my weak attempt at freeing myself, and push it back down onto the cold table.

"You act as though you're terrified, and in pain. But we know for a fact, that you're not." She explained, like I hadn't heard it a thousand times before.

"I can't believe the Spectre-Distracter worked, Mads!" My dad happily reinserted himself into the conversation, returning with a bundle of needles and phials. I cringed, trying to jerk my arm away from my mother. I wasn't sure what the 'Distracter' was, but I had a good idea, and I really, really hoped I wouldn't ever encounter that kind of pain again.

Forcefully, my mom kept my arm pinned, her tight grip on my chilly wrist restricting me again as she turned to examine the bundle my dad had brought out.

My body ached terribly, remaining tingles of pain pricking my nerves and sending goose bumps down my skin. I didn't even know my ghost form could _get_ goose bumps. And from what my dad had said earlier, I couldn't- The realization dawned on me. _I can't… change back. _I couldn't go back to human, not for four hours, I _couldn't change back.  
><em>

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><p><em>(c)Danny Phantom - Butch Hartman<br>(c) Story - Me _


	3. Truthful pain

**AN:**Edited chapter two, go back and read if you want. Very minour changes, but they kind a help understand the beginning of this one.

Also, I'm sorry if I don't update very frequently. I'm right in the middle of moving, so it's hard to sit down and write.  
>Kinda long chapter here though. And I'm working on making them longer, since I dislike small ones.<p>

Any previous warnings apply.

**End AN.  
><strong>

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><p>In my newest burst of panic at the realization I couldn't go back to being me, mixed with the raging headache that I had acquired, I hadn't realized until it was too late that my mom secured my arm in a few replacement cuffs that magnetized powerfully to the table. The shock of the metal on my arm jerked me out of my panicked revelation. "What are you doing?" I yelled hoarsely, jerking my arm in a weak attempt to break it again, as if I could escape, or they would even bother to answer me.<p>

_No, no, no! This isn't supposed to happen! You're my parents, you're not supposed to let this happen! _I wanted to scream, shaking my head violently as I tried to pull my arm loose again. It was a fruitless endeavor though; I was too weak, drained both by the 'Specter-Distracter' and that other thing my father had used on me. Now that I think about it, it reminded me of a backwards version of the Plasmius Maximus.

"Oh shush, ghost." My mom finally spoke, turning a disapproving glare in my direction. "You can drop the act, it's not going to work on us." She stated in a clipped tone. I winced inwardly, wishing that my mom wasn't so dead-set on the supposed factual ghost theory. No pun intended.

"Have you ever once thought you may be wrong, that maybe I'm not 'acting'?" The shuddered words left my mouth before I could catch them, and I could _feel_my own terror and desperate pleading in the air as they escaped me. I don't think my parents expected such a strong, emotion filled response. They both just stood and stared at me for a second, eyes slightly narrowed as they tried to figure me out. I could practically hear the gears in their heads. I knew what they were thinking though; and it wasn't in my favor.

With a shrug, my dad laughed his bellowing laugh and shook my plea off like nothing had happened. "We can't possibly be wrong, ghost." He sent me a toothy grin. "We've done extensive research and have spent years studying your kind; of course we know you can't _feel._" With another laugh, he went back to sorting out the tools on the small table.

My mom didn't shake it off so quickly, and before she could, I looked at her. I didn't just _look _at her, like a person does when talking. I looked her straight in the eye. I was scared, in pain, and I couldn't go human to show them who I really was. I could only rely on the hope that one of them would finally connect the straggling wires in their heads between Phantom, and their son. Both me. I let my fear and pleading fill my bright neon green eyes, the first time I had ever looked at her dead on in ghost form before. I could see her shiver, and something flashed in her turquoise eyes. "Please..." I whispered, just loud enough for my usually quiet mom to hear.

"Mads! Where's scalpel number nine?" My dad's booming voice broke the small connection between us, oblivious to our silent communication. She looked away, pointing to a small toolbox across the workspace a few feet away. I continued to watch her though, refusing to give up hope. When she turned back to me, giving me a look that showed utter confusion and fascination; but not the intention to free me- I jerked my head away, hoping somewhere inside myself that she had seen the flash of betrayal that literally caused my eyes to burn with a new, green intensity.

I tried to not even acknowledge my father asking for a scalpel. I already knew what they were going to do, since it was their lifelong dream to cut a 'live' ghost open and see what made it tick. It just made it all the more enjoyable since I was the Ghost-kid of Amity Park. I shivered, feeling strangely cold, even though I knew I couldn't experience the feeling of cold in my Ghost form, since my body was technically supposed to be colder than most things outside the Ghost Zone. I let out a shuddering breath, blinking my eyes closed, surprised at how moist they were.

"Ghost." The soft voice surprised me, my eyes jolting open as I looked up to see my mom standing over me. I kept my mouth firmly shut, not trusting my voice in the state I was in, with my muscles and even my bones aching terribly, along with a killer migraine. Not to mention my unimaginable terror at the prospect of spending the next whoever knows how long playing test dummy. She didn't wait for me either, and instead spoke once more, just as softly. I wondered if it was so my dad didn't hear.

"Do… Do you know where my son is...? I haven't seen him for two days... And I know he and his friends sometimes hang out with you." It took a moment for the question to register; it was _not_ what I was expecting from her, let alone asking me of all people. Another thing struck me for an instant, though. _Two days? How long have I been here? _The thought bounced around my head unbidden, but I quickly pushed it away.

It was almost funny. The irony in the whole situation almost made me laugh. But I had to answer this carefully, and I knew I had to take a chance too, or risk having my guts spilled like the frog I had to dissect last week at school. "Um… About that.." I started, choosing my words carefully. How should I say it? I obviously went with the most direct, straight to the point answer.

"You're looking at him." I finished, my voice almost inaudible. Forcing as much sincerity into my quiet answer, along with my fear and aching pain. I didn't once look away from my mom's bright turquoise eyes, eyes that I had inherited, at least in my human form. She let out a short gasp, as if something had burned her. Stepping back from me and bumping into the table behind her, sending tools scattering across the ground. I had literally seen the wires connect in her eyes, a bright spark going off in her head. I knew my parents weren't dumb, just a bit clueless. I knew my mom had been doing research on me, Phantom, for ages now, and I knew she had also noticed my issues, Danny's issues, in school, not to mention the countless clues that I hadn't been able to cover up. She just needed that last nudge, and I had given it.

"Maddie?" I heard my dad's voice speak up, his lumbering figure approaching my mother quickly. She looked like she was about to faint. "Mads? What's wrong?" I had never heard my dad get so quiet; still incredibly loud, but softer. "Open the cuffs, Jack." A leap of hope hammered in my chest, almost like a heartbeat, which refused to beat in my ghost form. "What? Mads, no! We just caught him. He's tricking you, hypnotizing you or something." My dad protested, frowning. "I don't care Jack, open the cuffs." My mom sounded panicked, pushing past my dad to jerk at the cuffs holding my chaffed and still slightly bleeding arms.

My dad looked shocked at her sudden change in mood; it wasn't like her, and for that I understood. I hadn't honestly believed she would believe me at first, or at all. I had expected a slap, or an ecto-gun pointed at my head. It made me wonder if she knew more than she had let on. But I didn't care, she was trying to get me out, and that's all that mattered. I wouldn't be dissected, stabbed, prodded, tested or killed. Not yet at least; it kind of depended on the next three and a half hours, if they were willing to wait that long for me to change. It almost felt unreal, and it struck me that I wasn't nearly as freaked out as I should've been about my mom finally knowing. I mean, she _knew_ I wasn't just some ghost now, and she knew I wasn't just some troubled child of hers anymore either.  
>I wondered if I she was going to demand me to change back once she got the cuffs off me; did she even know I could change back? Or did she think I was really dead? Whatever, we would figure that out later.<p>

"Maddie, no! Stop that, he's lying. Whatever he said to you isn't true." My dad argued, placing a heavy hand on her frantic ones, both of theirs touching the cool skin of my arm, trickles of ectoplasmic blood running from the cuts on my arms from my earlier frantics. I saw my dad shiver at the touch, but didn't move. "He's lying, ghost always lie. Never trust a ghost." He said softly, looking at her with the signature Fenton puppy-dog eyes. I saw a flicker of doubt flash over my mom's eyes, and I felt my hopeful spark splutter like a dying fire. She looked back at me, her eyes wide as she tried to figure it out.

"Mom…" I whispered hoarsely, pleading to her. I saw my dad stiffen at the word, his own eyes flicking to stare at me. The last word broke my mom's confusion induced trance, and she yanked my father's hands away. "No, Jack. He's not lying this time." She whispered, and I could see tears in her eyes as she worked on the bindings holding her injured half-ghost son. My dad was standing perfectly still for perhaps the first time in his life as he tried to connect the dots in his head.

My mom finally freed my right arm, her own hand brushing mine as she set to work on my other arm. I couldn't help but notice the shiver that passed through her on contact with my chilly skin. I didn't know what to think, my mom believed me so easily; how? She had always been the one to stick firmly to her theories, never listening to a ghost because they could never be trusted, that they were all evil. Including the local ghost-boy hero. But here she was, believing me only after a moment that the ghost she hated so thoroughly was actually her son. I was rather shocked by her acceptance. Was it some kind of motherly instinct that had clicked when I finally said it, or had she been suspecting some sort of connection between Phantom and Fenton? How much had she figured before now, or was it totally out of the blue? I wanted to ask her, to say sorry for not telling her before, that her tears of anguish were my fault and that I understood if she hated me for it now. But I was too tired, in too much pain. All I could do was lie limply as she unlocked the top two cuffs of my left arm and set to work on the one holding my wrist in place.

My struggles at the beginning had torn the skin around the metal bindings, leaving my skin raw and slightly bloody, leaking my greenish blood. Nothing much then. But after the high powered orb had attacked me, it looked like I had stuck parts of my arms in a blender on high. But after that awful shock, I was convinced a blender would've been a lot less painful.

I blearily watched my mom work, seeing her wince every time she looked from the bloody, torn black jumpsuit, to my actual wounds. It wasn't until now that I noticed all the other aches I had, having pushed the pain of those ones back in my panic at the beginning; leaving me to wonder briefly how I had even ended up in this mess in the first place. After a moment, the use of my brain was too much for my headache and I pushed it into the 'deal with this later' part of my mind.

My mom seemed to be stuck on my wrist's cuff, yanking and pulling at it in frustration. I could see that I had somehow managed to twist the hinge during my frantics, and now it wouldn't budge an inch. I let out an almost inaudible groan, the scrambling over the metal that encased my joint causing it to sting, and my mom paused her efforts. "Don't worry Danny, I'll get you out, I promise." Her voice was shaking with her emotions, making me wince inwardly. I may be the 'victim' right now, but it was my mom who was truly suffering. "Jack!" She snapped, looking up suddenly at my still apparently dumbfounded father. "Help me!" She commanded, snapping him out of his uncharacteristic daze. He hesitated, which showed me truly how much my secret's revelation had affected my parents. My usually enthusiastic father, had done just that. Hesitated. He has never waited to do anything before, never once thinking things completely through before leaping into the fray.

He took a small step forward, still unsure of himself, but after a moment, he moved faster with each step until he was moving as frantically as my mom was, finally reaching the cold slab-table I confined to. Together, they worked on the hinge, but to no avail. I was no help either, being too weak in my present state to even lift my head, let alone break a ghost proof metal band.

What was worse was the fact that I was trapped in ghost form for at least another two and a half hours. Usually that wasn't an issue, but being so weak now, I would normally be forced back into my human self. As it was however, my powers were slowly draining me even more than usual. Soon I'd be completely out of energy, and I would probably pass out until my human form could resurface and I was able to recharge. But that was all speculation; Best case scenario was I was only out a few minutes after I was forced human again. Worst case, I wouldn't wake up at all. But I wouldn't say that to my parents, not now. Even as I thought this, my vision flickered, jerking me out of my hazy thoughts and making my headache just that much worse.

An involuntary grunt escaped me; Hell, I don't even know what caused the sudden noise. My mom heard it though, and she started wrenching on the cuff even more desperately than before. "Hurry, Jack!" She hissed. My dad had been trying to bend the hinge back into place, without success. Uttering a grunt of his own, he stood up straight. "I'll go get something to help." He announced, already hurrying off into the depths of the lab. "Hurry!" My mom repeated in a barely suppressed sob. Her anguish made me feel worse, if that was even possible. I wanted to say, or do something that would assure her I'd be okay, that I wasn't completely dead. I wasn't really a ghost, and that I was still her son. But I couldn't think of anything, nothing came to my mind, which was starting to spin, making me incredibly dizzy. I shook my head weakly, trying to clear my dim vision to look at her.

"Mom… I'm- I'm sorry." I rasped finally, my throat sore from my screams of pain. I'm surprised she even understood me. Her bright turquoise eyes met my vibrant green ones, and another sob rocked her. "No, Danny, I'm sorry." She whispered, reaching forward gently to run her hand through my sweat soaked hair, only hesitating a moment from the cold. In some small part of my mind, I found it odd that I could even sweat as a ghost, I guess it was a new definition to 'cold sweat'. "I should have known, I should have realized it. I knew there was something, but I never pursued it." She said in despair, tears streaming steadily down her cheeks. "Oh my beautiful baby boy, I'm so sorry." She sobbed, leaning down to kiss my chilly forehead, like she used to do when she would tuck me into bed, back when I was little. "I-I should have told you sooner." I croaked in argument, my vision going haywire as my eyes crossed dizzily for a moment. I forced myself to focus, trying to hold onto consciousness. She shook her head softly, closing her eyes for a second as if to steady herself. "I'll get you out of here, and you'll be fine. I swear it. Once you've rested, then we can talk, until then, just stay awake with me, okay? Can you do that sweetie?" She said after a moment of silence, placing her hand on my cold cheek. I knew I couldn't stay awake much longer, but I nodded my head softly in compliance.

"Jack, what are you doing? We need to get him upstairs, NOW." My mom yelled, looking away from me, leaving me blinking repeatedly to try and stay awake through the pain, since keeping eye contact with her had been helping me focus on staying conscious. "I'm coming Maddie, just had to grab the wrench." His voice literally echoed in the expanse of the lab as he all but ran back towards us. "It was in a pile of ecto-grabbers and spare parts." He said, not even out of breath from his exertion. "Just get him out of this thing." My mom's voice was on the edge of pleading, but had that sharpness of a command from wife to husband- or the commanding tone a mother had when protecting her child.

My dad was half way back, holding the wrench out to show it to my mom; when my entire world exploded in a blinding flash of emerald and blue light. It was coming directly from the formerly closed Ghost Portal, separating our view of my father. I was surprisingly not surprised; I knew my bad luck hadn't run out yet, it had only been a matter of time. But after everything, the only word I could find to say, was: "Crap."

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><p><em>(c) Danny Phantom - Butch Hartman<br>__(c) Story - ArtemisMelody_


	4. Chilling confrontations

**A/N:** Long time no see! Been literal years since I updated this, and I hope those of you who still bother to check it aren't too terribly angry. ovo;;

This chapter is pretty short, but it's mostly to get me back on the ball again, an hopefully the next one won't be as slow OR as short as this one is. I'll try and update once a week, but no promises at the moment!

Anywho, here's the next chapter of _Torment_!

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><p>"Jack!" I heard my mother yell over the noise of settling debris, the bent and torn doors of the Ghost Portal rocking back and forth several feet away from the swirling mass of ectoplasmic hues. The metal that had surrounded the portal was melted and glowing red hot, a purplish glow coming from the outer edges of the burned substance. I groaned inwardly, feeling the burn on my chest throb with a pulse of pain that nearly put me out right then and there. But I knew I couldn't pass out just yet- my dad had been close enough to that blast to get knocked back, and a stubborn part of my mind refused to let sweet, blissful blackness take over until I made sure he was okay.<p>

I tried not to conjuncture my dad in the same thoughts that put the two into the same memory- sure my dad had been the one with the 'Spector-Distractor', but he was still my dad. And… well, I still couldn't claim this wasn't my fault. I _should_ have told them sooner. But I mentally shrugged, feeling beaten and battered; what was done was done, I guess. No point in dwelling over it now.

Gritting my teeth and clenching my eyes tightly closed, I forced myself onto my elbows, elevating my throbbing torso so I could get a better view of the damage- I nearly let myself crash back just by how much effort it took. My mom turned to me at my movement, and she let out a heartbreaking little sob, trying desperately to decide her next course of action- I could tell she was attempting to find some way to help both me and my dad; some possible path that could get all three of them out of this mess without any further injury to her child, or her husband.

"Sweetie, no. You need to lie back down, you're hurt." She said urgently while gently placing a hand on my shoulder, not quite pushing but forcing me to not move any further. I could see the pain in her eyes as she spoke those words, I knew she blamed herself for large burn on my chest and the feeling that my entire being was put through a blender like a ghost-boy smoothie.

I nearly complied, wishing nothing more than to surrender to unconsciousness and to escape that feeling, but I knew better. Whoever had managed to blast the doors off the Ghost Portal was not someone I wanted to be caught sleeping by. I struggled to put a reassuring smile on my face, but it didn't reach my eyes, which I knew without a doubt they portrayed just the opposite of what I was trying to portray.

"Don't worry about me, mom. This is nothing." I lied through gritted teeth. "We need to find dad and get out of here. Whoever did that-" I glanced pointedly at the steaming pile of Portal debris. "-Isn't going to wait long… Help me get this last one off." I added, taking a deep breath that nearly sent me back to the table in a rush of agony. My lungs burned with the pressure, and I couldn't help but make a slight noise in the back of my throat. I didn't acknowledge it, and I closed my eyes briefly to get my spinning vision back under control, but my mom hadn't missed it at all.

Slowly exhaling a shallow breath, I looked at her again and saw her frowning features filled with sadness and self-directed anger. There was indecision there too, and I forced the next words out with a bit of effort, feeling my injuries not-so-pleasantly remind me of their existence. Rude. "Please, mom. I've handled worse before, believe me." I cast my eyes away from hers when I saw her try to cover up a cringe, her hand reaching over to cup my chilled cheek in her right hand, her thumb softly brushing my cold skin the same way she used to do when I was little.

I was painfully forced to acknowledge once again, that this was mostly my fault. Sure I didn't know how I even got here, sure, if you wanted to get technical my parents were the reason I even ihad/i ghost powers. But let's not forget that I was the one that kept them secret, despite knowing their obsession with ghost hunting. I threw those thoughts into the back of my mind, locking them away for another time and more appropriate place to think about.

I felt my mom move away, and I let my eyes find her again. She was moving towards the last Ghost Proof cuff on my ankle, taking a more urgent and calculative view to it than before. She still shook and trembled, so very unlike the strong mom I knew, but she persevered through her emotions to do as I asked. At that moment, I felt a wave of love and appreciation for my mom wash over me like a tidal wave, and it was almost enough to make me feel like I could take on the world single handedly, so long as I could protect her from feeling that way again. Almost. The burned center of my chest screeched otherwise.

I clenched my teeth once more, hissing quietly as I forced myself into a better sitting position so I could watch the billowing smoke that poured sluggishly from the front of the Ghost Portal, preparing myself in mind and in body for whoever, or _what_ever, flew through it. It was eerie how long it was taking for the assault to begin, but I wasn't exactly going to curse whatever it was for taking their sweet old time. I mean, it wasn't like I was in _searing pain_ or anything. Not at all.

I took the brief moment of silence to examine my wrists and chest, gently using my fingers to feel the areas to make sure nothing wasn't _too_ crippled to work. Unfortunately, my left wrist and hand felt about as numb as your mouth does after a visit to the dentist. I guess it was lucky that I'm a righty, which was torn and bleeding with red and green streams of ectoplasm and my weird Halfa blood mixture, but still functional. I could work with that.

My chest was an entirely different matter though. I hadn't quite let myself look at it until now, but when I did, I felt very close to throwing up.

You know how when you get hurt, you don't really realize just how ibad/i the cut or bruise is until you acknowledge it? Or look at it in general? Or in cartoons, when Wily Coyote speeds off a cliff but hovers in the air for a while before he looks down, which then sends him plummeting?

Yeah. That's about how this felt.

Right where my ribs met, that bony bit I remembered was called the sternum, there was a four by four inch burn mark, my black jumpsuit and white, stylized "DP" logo my friend Sam had introduced, was scorched away, exposing my skin to the air. The area pulsed an angry green and red color, and where my skin hadn't been _cauterized_, it was leaking the same blood and ectoplasm mixture I had when in ghost form. I guess burned ghost flesh doesn't smell, because I recognized if I had been human I would be retching with the scent of burned skin. Which, by the way, is an absolutely terrible stench.

Even so, I felt a quiver of fear at the way the wound _glowed_. I mean, I glow, yeah. That's a ghost thing, and sometimes my eyes did it more often even when I was human, but this wasn't the same kind of glow. It pulsed in a terrifyingly similar manner to the 'Spector-Distractor', the red orb of energy that was the cause of my pain. I carefully hovered my right hand over the circle of burned skin, and felt a heat very unnatural to my ghost form pulse in time to the glow.

That definitely couldn't be good, but while I was examining it, I felt a swift pressure on my ankle, and heard a soft click. Putting my hand back down to the table, I looked up at my mom, her eyes were locked on my actions, concern and tears making her eyes shine. Her hands held pliers and a screw driver, as well as the twisted remains of the cuff that confined me.

Drawing my sore leg towards myself, I gave her a weak smile. "I'm fine." I said with false confidence, slowly turning to swing my lower half off the side of the table. I shivered at the touch of the steel, the ghost proof vibrations still tingling my skin. God, I hated ghost proof steel. All my problems with ghosts like Skulker and Plasmius came from its mere existence. Well, that and things that could get rid of my powers temporarily. Those sucked too.

I felt a wave of nausea hit me like a sumo wrestler had just body-slammed me, and with a soft gasp, my right hand grasped at my head in an attempt to stop the world from spinning around me. I felt a surge of doubt enter my mind behind the feeling. Maybe I couldn't take on whatever was waiting them out like a snake waiting for prey. Maybe I should lie back down and just let darkness envelop me.

Like that comic superhero Flash, my mom was at my side in an instant, her trembling hands brushing my shoulder and holding me upright so I didn't crash forward onto the ground. "Oh…" I heard her murmur in distress, and for a moment I almost let myself pass out in her arms. It was comforting in a way that made little kids feel safe at night or just before their first day of school.

This was my mom, and she had finally been able to see past my white hair and luminescent green eyes. She was able to connect the dots that I had sloppily left behind throughout the last year. Sure it had taken a while, and half of me- the half that screamed for secrecy from all the effort I had put into it- was desperately trying to figure out a way to turn back time. But the other half, the half that was me; not just Danny Phantom, but the half that was wholly and completely iDanny Fenton/i, desperately wished to melt into my mom's arms just like when I was a kid. To wish away all the badness and hurt and know everything was going to be okay.

But I knew I couldn't, and I forced my body to steady itself, hesitantly but surely pushing away from my mom. She let me go, but not without pressing a kiss to the top of my head. "I'm so sorry, honey." She repeated once again, her words muffled by my hair. "We're going to make this right." She added, pulling away. I nodded at her, but kept my eyes focused on the wall. I didn't want her to see the fear I felt, or the pain. Not anymore; she felt so bad about all this I couldn't stand to let her see the flash of hesitance that entered my gaze. My doubts were present, but noticeably subdued.

Inhaling softly, careful not to take in too much air, I slid off the table and wobbled precariously on my feet. Cutting off my mom's hands and her silent offer to help, I shook my head. "Find any ghost weapons still functioning." I said, my voice a bit ragged, but understandable. "We don't know what's waiting for us in there."

Maddie Fenton, my mom, nodded softly, and I could see her resolve steel itself. She wasn't weak, and she had realized not too long ago that whatever had blasted through that portal wasn't exactly your common ghost. She wasn't stupid either- she knew enough about _Phantom_, my ghost half, to know I had enemies. I watched her stalk quickly away towards the shelves just behind us, mostly untouched by the blast.

Not much time had passed since the initial explosion, five minutes at most, and I knew it was running short. Smoke still poured from the portal's broken components, slowly funneling out through the vent system my parents had installed for just that reason. –Too many broken gadgets and a clumsy dad.-

I still couldn't see my father either, and worry trickled through my exhausted mind. Had he been knocked unconscious? Or maybe he had been hit by the shock-wave and sent into one of his various piles of gizmos. I didn't let myself think about the other possibility.

Steeling myself, I gathered what minuscule scraps of strength I had left, and floated slowly towards the portal, using my ghost vision to penetrate the worst of the smoke.

For a split second, my spine went rigid and my skin tingled. Green energy glowed at my right hand's palm, and I felt goose bumps stampede down my arms. I didn't even know my ghost form _could_ get goose bumps. I guess you could call them "Ghoost bumps."

Crappy mental pun aside, I floated away from the smoke once more, sensing my mom approach me, armed to the teeth and prepared for anything. I couldn't help the little shiver that alone triggered, but I did ignore it. "Do you know what's in there?" She asked me softly, her eyes never leaving the portal.

"No, I can't see anything through this haze." I murmured, feeling a touch of confusion. "This stuff has stuck around too long to be normal smoke-"

I felt a vice of ice close around my heart as two pin points of red shown out from the cloudy air, a menacing shine to them as I felt that spine-tightening pressure return and a small gasp leave my body. My mom turned her eyes to me in concern, seeing my floating form waver and my feet touch the ground in a moment of solid shock and legitimate fear.

Cold, triumphant laughter echoed through the destroyed lab, and I felt all my previous pains flair and intensify, anticipation for what came next clamping down on me like I had just fed myself to an alligator.

* * *

><p><em>(c) Danny Phantom - Butch Hartman<br>__(c) Writing/Story - RenatusPhoenix_


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